WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Chris Wright predicted that soaring oil prices will cool off within the “next few weeks” after the war in Iran ends, while sidestepping a question about whether he expects crude to top $200 a barrel.
Oil prices have been hovering around $100 a barrel in the futures markets since President Trump announced a massive attack on Kharg Island, a critical Iranian oil hub, where some 90% of its crude exports flow through.
“This conflict will come to an end in the next few weeks, and we’ll see a rebound in supplies and a pushing down of prices after that,” Wright told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday.
“We were very aware, very aware, that we would have [a] short-term disruption… [that] would cause a little bit of increased prices on Americans,” he added. “Prices today are still far below where they were in the Biden administration, where they were begging, bartering, and bribing Iran to behave better.”
Wright recalled how gasoline prices neared $5 a gallon at one point during the Biden administration, but was hopeful that there wouldn’t be a repeat of that this time. Gas prices are currently averaging $3.69 nationally, according to the latest data from the American Automobile Association.
Some Iranian officials have warned that oil prices could broach $200 a barrel as the theocratic regime leverages its ability to wreak havoc in the critical chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, where about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil traverses annually.
“I would pay no attention to what Iran says,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday when asked about the risks of oil prices broaching $200 a barrel.
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“There is a lot of energy that flows through the Strait of Hormuz. And depending upon the timing and the manner in which this conflict comes to an end, we’re going to see some elevated pricing until we get there,” Wright acknowledged. “We have done many, many actions to mitigate that price rise.”
Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that its member countries were going to release some 400 million barrels of oil.
The Trump administration announced that it plans to unleash 172 million barrels from America’s oil reserves, which would bring the emergency supply down to its lowest level since 1982.
Still, Wright acknowledged that the Strait is not safe to traverse at the moment.
“That’s one of the objectives at the end of this conflict is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” he added. “Since the conflict began, Iran has impeded flow through the Strait of Hormuz. And that is still the case today. We have focused initially on their ability to project distant power. Impeding flows in the Strait of Hormuz, which is right next to Iran.”
“That’s going to be an increasing focus of our military going forward.”
Trump said Saturday that allied countries will be dispatching ships to the Strait to make the critical oil chokepoint “open and safe.” Top administration officials have long contended that they expected that Iran would try to thwart travel through Strait if the US took military action against the regime.
Before the war began, the price of gasoline nationally was below $3 a gallon. Wright was optimistic it could get back down to that level by the summer.
“There’s a very good chance that’ll be true,” he said, when asked. “There’s no guarantees in war. The timeframe’s still not entirely clear. But I think that’s certainly a goal of the administration and very possible.”
